Rome Airport luggage issues

I found this article on BBC.com about why there is so much lost luggage in Rome. Just a tip, but when I travel, I only have the tag that the airline gives you and my address tag and nothing else. I plan to put the cruise tag on when I arrive in Rome. Fewer pieces of paper on the bag, the better. Here is the link to the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6932570.stm

Rather scary reading...

Yes, you should always wait on the cruise tags and not put them on for the flight. Aside from confusion, they can easily come off the bags or torn or whatever.

Keith

Sounds a bit like Heathrow and British Airways....

As a balance, I'll report a very easy transfer at Rome recently - London to Rome to Brindisi - with luggage appearing promply in Brindisi.

Doesn't really prove much, but at least it sometimes works!

Matthew

Middle of holiday season, so maximum pressure on airports, perhaps aggravated by short-staffing due to ... holidays!

I've also seldom had any trouble at Heathrow. But that includes totally trouble-free personal baggage experiences whilst looking at huge piles of mishandled bags just stacked in the baggage reclaim hall - the debris of all the other people who were not so fortunate.

If you travel with any frequency, it's going to happen to you sometime! :D

Thanks for the advice

I found this article on BBC.com about why there is so much lost luggage in Rome. Just a tip, but when I travel, I only have the tag that the airline gives you and my address tag and nothing else. I plan to put the cruise tag on when I arrive in Rome. Fewer pieces of paper on the bag, the better. Here is the link to the article:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6932570.stm

 

Rather scary reading...

I have a "fun" luggage story:

Went from LA to Atlanta, Atlanta to Milan, Milan to Rome.

Got in early to Milan where there was no gate yet for the Milan/Rome plane. Finally, there was one at 9:20. Get into Rome, and we're waiting for our luggage for close to 1 hour as there are 4-5 flights on this carosel. Well, u guessed it. So I go to the Alitalia (YUK) counter, file a report, and they look it up and it appears that OUR BAGGAGE WAS LEFT IN MILAN !! (so were others on that flight...) So the person taking the complaing ASSURES me that the bag will be at the hotel by 12:00 the next day. It is 1:00pm now, and to call if not. Well. I call at 10:30am just to make sure, and had the Concierge speak to them. Alitalia told them that BOTH pieces of luggage were in Rome and are on the truck and will be delivered w/in 24 hours. Ok. So we go out, in the same clothing as the day b4, have to buy toothbrushes and a couple of T-shirts--and we return at about 4:00. No baggage. Call Alitalia. Get the Italian brush=off: they made a mistake, it wasn't our bags. Well, in this day and age of ccomputers, and I have so many identifying things on our luggage all that's missing is a neon sign--there's NO way you can miss our luggage. So I grab my husband, we jump in a cab (40 Euro) and go the a'pt baggage claim, all the while betting that my husband's bag is there but not mine. So I'm on line for 20 mins on this one line, then go and stand on another line for another 20 mins. Then she directs us to these 2 black doors, meanwhile, there are SEAS of luggage OUTSIDE the doors, and we know ours isn't there. Well--of coure my husband's bag is there, with the Hotel name and address wrapped around the handle (thought it was on the truck--yeah, right!!) and again I go up to the 2nd line I was in begging and pleading with this lady--she said that they don't have confirmation, but it LOOKS like my bag arrived. Well, where the heck is it? And I should go stand back on a line that has 7 people on it when I just stood on this line. So I'm pleading, and I see another sea of luggage by carosel 9, and I know it's not there--and as I turn my head, some porter comes out of this room right by the complaint desk (they never told us about that room!) and guess what--THERE's MY BAG!! Only out 1 day and a half--not to mention aggravation and a sleepless night. P.S.: there was a whole other room with "lost" luggage from June!! I'll bet it wasn't lost--- it was just too much trouble for them to go thru! They just studk my husband's bag in and amongst the others even tho his had a "deliver to" tag. Yet another CC couple we met had 3/4 bags DELIVERED to their hotel! I told her about this room--she went, and found her 4th bag!

UGH.. I'm sorry to see all the luggage problems! That's why I always stick a Global Bag Tag on everything I own if it's going to be out of my sight during a trip.

I found this article on BBC.com about why there is so much lost luggage in Rome. Just a tip, but when I travel, I only have the tag that the airline gives you and my address tag and nothing else. I plan to put the cruise tag on when I arrive in Rome. Fewer pieces of paper on the bag, the better. Here is the link to the article:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6932570.stm

 

Rather scary reading...

Donna

Ironic... I lost my luggage in Rome just 2 weeks ago. I haven't read the article, as I'm already a bit disheartened with the high probability that I will not be getting it back. While I was returning from my cruise back to the airport, I was able to go to Lost and Found desk and entered into 2 decent sized rooms with luggage stacked upon shelves that were considered "lost". While making my initial report, I found the representative quite helpful or at least friendly. When searching for my luggage on my way out of Rome, I found the staff to be very rude and aggressively hostile as I tried to search for my luggage in the lost and found room. I'm in the frustrating process of filing claims and filling out paperwork and trying to make contact with the airline that somehow botched up our luggage situation. :(

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/08/11/0811lostbags.html

Other advice someone on these boards offered - be sure to cross pack (to avoid having to cross dress :D )- put some of your clothing in hubby bag and vice versa. Take at least one outfit in your carry on . . .

Good point on waiting to place the cruise tags - will do that!

UGH.. I'm sorry to see all the luggage problems! That's why I always stick a Global Bag Tag on everything I own if it's going to be out of my sight during a trip.

That didn't matter. It was just that Alitalia did NOT load our luggage on the Milan/Rome flight. We could have had a neon sign on ours--it wouldn't have made a difference.

As for cross packing--both pieces were left at Milan.

I am at a lost, everyone on this thread seems to be referencing baggage tags, but in the article, I see no reference to luggage tags causing issues. Did the article change since this thread started?